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The Burdens
There are towers, there in the dark under the yellow moons. Huge towers, where all your burdens are held, just waiting for you to be ready to face them. You have a sword, and your memory. Whether that is enough is up to you.
- GenresHorror
28 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 24, 2015
3 people are currently reading
35 people want to read
About the author
William Meikle
407 books1,849 followersI'm a Scottish writer, now living in Canada, with more than thirty novels published in the genre press and over 300 short story credits in thirteen countries.
My work has appeared in a number of professional anthologies and I have recent short story sales to NATURE Futures and Galaxy's Edge. When I'm not writing I play guitar, drink beer and dream of fortune and glory.
For an intro to me, my writing and my accent see my Youtube channel
My work has appeared in a number of professional anthologies and I have recent short story sales to NATURE Futures and Galaxy's Edge. When I'm not writing I play guitar, drink beer and dream of fortune and glory.
For an intro to me, my writing and my accent see my Youtube channel
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
February 3, 2023
Entertaining paranormal listening 🎶🔰
Another will written paranormal fantasy world 🌎 haunting horror adventure thriller short story by William Meikle (The William Meikle Chapbook Collection book ten). I didn't connect with this take of romantic relationships adventure story of days eggs and bad 👎 things. Give it a try. Enjoy the adventure of reading 👓 or listening 🎶 to Alexa read books 📚. 2023 👒😀
Another will written paranormal fantasy world 🌎 haunting horror adventure thriller short story by William Meikle (The William Meikle Chapbook Collection book ten). I didn't connect with this take of romantic relationships adventure story of days eggs and bad 👎 things. Give it a try. Enjoy the adventure of reading 👓 or listening 🎶 to Alexa read books 📚. 2023 👒😀
September 27, 2015
A man wakes up in a dark tower under the light of yellow moons, with eerie burdens stalking him. The last thing he remembers before the tower is dying of cancer. How did he come to be here, with nothing but a sword and his memories to sustain him. Can he survive, or will he die again. This chilling short story by William Meikle, 'The Burdens,' is a fine example of the horror story. Meikle keeps the reader guessing, and then slips in a surprise twist for an ending that caught me completely off guard. A nice read for a quiet evening - NOT! This one will keep you awake, believe me. Read it with all the lights on, preferably early in the morning, so you'll have the full day to get over it. Really, really scary.
December 1, 2016
A short quick read that is entertaining but not quite as enthralling as some of William's other stories.
December 10, 2021
Meikle blends the metaphor and shifting rules of dream and memory with solid action, creating a short story that is both spiritual quest and dark fantasy adventure.
When John heard his wife tell the doctor to turn off his life support, he thought he’d slipped into the darkness forever; instead, he awakens at the top of a decaying stone tower beneath a dark sky with two yellow moons. Strange creatures stalk him from behind and fragments of his life draw him down, but does the key lie in fighting the past or embracing it?
The story opens a few hours after John awakes on the tower and is told in the first person as if a series of diary entries chronicling his descent. This point-of-view limits the reader only to what John has experienced, and the thoughts and memories it has evoked, creating a sense of intimacy and investigation.
Everything John encounters is either directly drawn from or a clear echo of something from his life giving his descent an immediate sense of purpose and meaning that avoids the plot being merely a running away from danger; however, John starts with no clue as to what this purpose might be and only gains hints as he descends. Thus, the plot interweaves the fast-paced action of overcoming the ostensibly hostile challenges of the tower and the more introspective larger challenge of finding a positive goal.
Assembled from fragments of John’s memories, the events have a strange mix of nebulous fantasy and internal logic that marks dreams. In contrast, the narrative voice has the slight distance of a witness statement. Depending on reader preference, this might either conjure John’s struggle to unravel metaphors and messages while maintaining accessibility or muffle the excitement behind a layer of dryness.
John is a sympathetic protagonist, neither rigidly sceptical nor utterly credulous and not an expert in relevant fields. This makes his reactions those of a ordinary person which—while a reader might not always agree with them—thus neither irritate by fanatical adherence to a belief in the face of evidence nor insult by succeeding through facts the reader does not have in advance and could not guess.
Overall, I enjoyed this short story. I recommend it to readers seeking a story that captures the confusion of facing metaphysical threats without becoming lost in introspection and unreliable evidence.
When John heard his wife tell the doctor to turn off his life support, he thought he’d slipped into the darkness forever; instead, he awakens at the top of a decaying stone tower beneath a dark sky with two yellow moons. Strange creatures stalk him from behind and fragments of his life draw him down, but does the key lie in fighting the past or embracing it?
The story opens a few hours after John awakes on the tower and is told in the first person as if a series of diary entries chronicling his descent. This point-of-view limits the reader only to what John has experienced, and the thoughts and memories it has evoked, creating a sense of intimacy and investigation.
Everything John encounters is either directly drawn from or a clear echo of something from his life giving his descent an immediate sense of purpose and meaning that avoids the plot being merely a running away from danger; however, John starts with no clue as to what this purpose might be and only gains hints as he descends. Thus, the plot interweaves the fast-paced action of overcoming the ostensibly hostile challenges of the tower and the more introspective larger challenge of finding a positive goal.
Assembled from fragments of John’s memories, the events have a strange mix of nebulous fantasy and internal logic that marks dreams. In contrast, the narrative voice has the slight distance of a witness statement. Depending on reader preference, this might either conjure John’s struggle to unravel metaphors and messages while maintaining accessibility or muffle the excitement behind a layer of dryness.
John is a sympathetic protagonist, neither rigidly sceptical nor utterly credulous and not an expert in relevant fields. This makes his reactions those of a ordinary person which—while a reader might not always agree with them—thus neither irritate by fanatical adherence to a belief in the face of evidence nor insult by succeeding through facts the reader does not have in advance and could not guess.
Overall, I enjoyed this short story. I recommend it to readers seeking a story that captures the confusion of facing metaphysical threats without becoming lost in introspection and unreliable evidence.
April 13, 2024
He has awakened into a nightmare or is it even real. How will he survive the creatures, and who and what are they.
An entertaining story.
An entertaining story.
October 8, 2015
The last thing he remembers is dying of cancer. Now he finds himself in a tall tower being attacked by a strange bat-like creatures. He feels sure he has died and this whole thing is totally impossible, and yet, armed only with a sword and his many memories, he somehow realizes he must fight his way down to the lower levels
This 28 page read by an excellent author, was an exciting dark fantasy that kept me turning pages until the end was reached. It was well written and a story that will keep you thinking long after you have finished this short work.
I highly recommend this to fans of William Meikle and horror readers in general who are looking for a quick and powerful story!
This 28 page read by an excellent author, was an exciting dark fantasy that kept me turning pages until the end was reached. It was well written and a story that will keep you thinking long after you have finished this short work.
I highly recommend this to fans of William Meikle and horror readers in general who are looking for a quick and powerful story!
August 7, 2015
Holy cow! What an adventure!!
This story just starts running from page one. The further the story goes, your blood pressure goes up, your heart rate accelerates, you can't read fast enough because all you want to know is " What happens next?" The Burdens is a place you can only pray you never end up. Makes you wonder though...how many of us could actually find their grail? You must read the book to understand the question. Great read Mr. Merkel, I will be reading much more of your work.
This story just starts running from page one. The further the story goes, your blood pressure goes up, your heart rate accelerates, you can't read fast enough because all you want to know is " What happens next?" The Burdens is a place you can only pray you never end up. Makes you wonder though...how many of us could actually find their grail? You must read the book to understand the question. Great read Mr. Merkel, I will be reading much more of your work.
January 18, 2016
The beginning, i.e. waking up and not knowing how you got to be where you are, reminded me of Tanith Lee's Birthgrave and Octavia Butler's Fledgling. And I thought to myself: I wonder how much one can wring out of this idea? Especially if you're prepared to journey into the fantastical.
Anyway, I found this short story rather dissatisfying, the writing was quite stiff and mannered and I was rather underwhelmed by it. 3 stars instead of 2 because I guess it could've been a good short story - pity Meikle doesn't have the ability to execute it well.
Anyway, I found this short story rather dissatisfying, the writing was quite stiff and mannered and I was rather underwhelmed by it. 3 stars instead of 2 because I guess it could've been a good short story - pity Meikle doesn't have the ability to execute it well.
December 29, 2015
4 Stars
I really like this one.
Such a vast improvement over my first Meikle read; The Vampire Bible, which I hated. The Burdens; creatures of the dark, of our nightmares; and our main character fighting those nightmares.
I really loved the writing in this story.
On to the next one.
I really like this one.
Such a vast improvement over my first Meikle read; The Vampire Bible, which I hated. The Burdens; creatures of the dark, of our nightmares; and our main character fighting those nightmares.
I really loved the writing in this story.
On to the next one.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews